This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily the prior art.
A blind refers to a device that may block a light beam input through a transparent window or may protect privacy.
The widely used blind is directly controlled by a hand of a user.
Meanwhile, a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) element includes a PDLC membrane and transparent conductive membranes arranged on opposite surfaces of the PDLC membrane.
The PDLC membrane is formed by dispersing a liquid crystal on a polymer matrix in the form of a microdroplet, and such a PDLC was researched by Press and Arrot in 1974.
Through the transparent conductive membranes, the PDLC membrane becomes transparent in an electric ON state, and becomes opaque in an electric OFF state.
In detail, in the electric ON state, the liquid crystal is arranged in a vertical direction of the transparent conductive membranes. As a result, a light beam passes through the liquid crystal so that the PDLC membrane becomes transparent.
In contrast, in the electric OFF state, the liquid crystal is maintained to be arranged irregularly. As a result, the light beam is diffusely reflected by the liquid crystal so that the PDLC membrane becomes opaque.
An electronic blind refers to a device in which as a PDLC element is arranged between two sheets of glass, a function which is the same as that of a blind is electrically implemented using such a technology. The electronic blind is referred to as a smart glass or an intelligent glass as another name.
In this regard, a technology in which one of the transparent conductive membranes arranged on the opposite surfaces of the PDLC membrane is etched and is divided into a plurality of electrically insulated division areas and the division areas are independently controlled, so that the smart glass becomes partially transparent or become partially opaque was disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1520396. In particular, a technology was disclosed in which an interval between the division areas is minimized using a laser beam and operations of the division areas are controlled using an infrared touch sensor.